REEL FACE: | REAL FACE: |
Kevin Bacon
Born: July 8, 1958 Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA | Special Agent Richard DesLauriers
Born: January 26, 1960 Birthplace: Massachusetts, USA |
John Goodman
Born: June 20, 1952 Birthplace: St. Louis, Missouri, USA | Commissioner Ed Davis
Born: July 31, 1956 Birthplace: Lowell, Massachusetts, USA |
J.K. Simmons
Born: January 9, 1955 Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan, USA | Sergeant Jeffrey Pugliese
Born: May 21, 1956 Birthplace: Watertown, Massachusetts, USA |
Michael Beach
Born: October 30, 1963 Birthplace: Roxbury, Massachusetts, USA | Governor Deval Patrick
Born: July 31, 1956 Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, USA |
Christopher O'Shea
Birthplace: UK | Patrick Downes
Born: abt 1983 Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts, USA |
Rachel Brosnahan
Born: December 15, 1990 Birthplace: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA | Jessica Kensky
Born: abt 1981 Birthplace: Sacramento, California, USA |
Dustin Tucker
Born: May 15, 1979 Birthplace: Amarillo, Texas, USA | Steve Woolfenden
Born: abt 1974 Birthplace: Massachusetts, USA |
Lucas Thor Kelley
Born: August 29, 2012 Birthplace: Dayville, Connecticut, USA | Leo Woolfenden
Born: abt 2009 Birthplace: Salem, Massachusetts, USA |
Alex Wolff
Born: November 1, 1997 Birthplace: New York City, New York, USA | Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Born: July 22, 1993 Birthplace: Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan |
Themo Melikidze
Born: February 21, 1992 Birthplace: Tbilisi, Georgia | Tamerlan Tsarnaev
Born: October 21, 1986 Birthplace: Elista, Kalmyk, Russia, Soviet Union Death: April 19, 2013, Watertown, Massachusetts, USA (gunshot wounds and run over by SUV) |
Melissa Benoist
Born: October 4, 1988 Birthplace: Littleton, Colorado, USA | Katherine Russell
Born: abt 1989 Birthplace: North Kingstown, Rhode Island, USA |
Jimmy O. Yang
Born: June 11, 1987 Birthplace: Hong Kong | Dun "Danny" Meng
Birthplace: China |
Jake Picking
| Officer Sean Collier
Born: January 3, 1986 Birthplace: Massachusetts, USA Death: April 18, 2013, MIT Campus (shot by terrorists) |
Cliff Moylan
Born: August 17, 1975 Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts, USA | Sergeant John MacLellan
Born: abt 1965 Birthplace: Watertown, Massachusetts, USA |
James Colby
Born: September 20, 1961 Birthplace: Arlington, Massachusetts, USA | Superintendent Billy Evans
Born: 1958 Birthplace: South Boston, Massachusetts, USA |
No. In researching the Patriots Day true story, we quickly discovered that he is a "composite" character who is largely fictional. "There were many police officers who were instrumental in different parts of the investigation," says actor Mark Wahlberg. "So Tommy Saunders is actually a composite character." Producer Scott Stuber added, "As we started to realize how many different Boston police officers were in different places of importance, the most respectful thing we could do is to say that Mark was representing law enforcement. There was no one person everywhere." This also obviously means that Tommy Saunder's wife Carol, portrayed by Michelle Monaghan in the movie, is a fictional character. -PatriotsDayFilm.com
Three people died and an estimated 264 were wounded as a direct result of the terrorist bombing at the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013 (view footage of the explosions). 17 people underwent amputations, with some suffering full or partial traumatic amputations during the blasts (SalemNews.com). These individuals include newlyweds Patrick Downes and Jessica Kensky, who are portrayed by Christopher O'Shea and Rachel Brosnahan in the movie. Both were standing near the finish line and lost their left legs below the knee in the attack (Jessica would eventually also lose her right leg as well). Like others, they also suffered shrapnel wounds and perforated eardrums. Watch the real Patrick Downes and Jessica Kensky discuss the tragedy and the movie. -BostonGlobe.com
"I have little glimpses in my memory from those first days," Jessica Kensky said in an interview. "I have stories people told me later. But the really painful stuff, it kind of fades away. It's just too much. I remember writing the words 'Patrick's foot.' I had no idea at that point that I had lost a leg. The only thing I could think about was Patrick's foot, laying on the ground. Then he wasn't there. He was taken to a different hospital." Patrick and Jessica didn't see each other for more than fifteen days, until she was stable enough to be moved to visit Patrick (their reunion happens much earlier in the movie), and it was another five weeks until they were relocated into a room together at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, after Patrick's fevers and infections subsided. Three years later, Patrick completed the 2016 Boston Marathon, running 26.2 miles as a single-leg amputee. -Boston College News
Yes. "There was a robust debate about making the images public," says former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick. "At that point, there had been at least one person misidentified by a newspaper. We didn't know how many people were involved. Who were they connected to? Was there more? So, I supported making the images public, but not before the President leaves." -Marathon: The Patriots Day Bombing
Yes. In the movie, the interrogator implies that they knew that Katherine Russell had been looking into this. In real life, computer expert Mark Spencer testified at Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's trial that Katherine Russell's computer revealed that she had done searches that included phrases like "rewards for wife of mujahideen [holy warrior]" and "if your husband becomes a shahid [martyr] what are the rewards for you?" The searches were done more than a year before the bombings.
After the Boston Marathon bombing, Katherine texted a friend, "A lot more people are killed every day in Syria [and] other places. Innocent people." -Newsweek.com
No. Director Peter Berg said that he added the romance to the movie to help convey Collier's appeal. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer was shot and killed in his cruiser by the bombers when they tried to steal his gun. -NYTimes.com
Yes. As hard as it is to believe, the real Dun Meng, an app developer, had actually memorized the tracking number of the GPS in his Mercedes SUV. If he hadn't given the number to police, they may never have been able to track down the stolen SUV before the bombers reached Times Square, their next intended target. Like in Patriots Day, Dun Meng was carjacked in the first place because, in an effort to be responsible, he had pulled off the road to type a text message. He says that his time with the bombers is accurately depicted in the film, right down to Dzhokhar asking if there was a jack in the car so he could play his music. -NYTimes.com
Yes. Sergeant Jeffrey Pugliese of the Watertown Police Department indeed played a major role in the real firefight. He had just finished a 16-hour shift and decided to be an extra set of eyes on the carjacking, not knowing he would be arriving to a gunfight. The FBI had located the carjacked SUV by tracking its GPS signal. Like in the Patriots Day movie, Pugliese arrived on the scene and flanked terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev. They moved quickly toward each other shooting, and when Tamerlan's gun would no longer fire, he threw it at Pugliese and turned to flee. Pugliese ran after him and tackled him to the pavement. As other officers helped to subdue Tamerlan, the terrorist's younger brother Dzhokhar got in the stolen SUV and attempted to run down the officers but ran over his brother instead, adding to Tamerlan's fatal injuries. Pugliese worked closely with the filmmakers to get his role in the shootout right.
"We shot the home scenes at their house," says actor J.K. Simmons, noting details right down to the inclusion of "Jeff's Sauce," Pugliese's own homemade pasta sauce. "The director and producers went above and beyond making sure they got it right," says Pugliese. "When I was on set, many times [Peter Berg] would stop the action, in the middle of shooting, and ask me, 'Jeff, is that how it went down?' " -BostonGlobe.com
Yes. While fact-checking the Patriots Day movie, we learned that the filmmakers interviewed first responders and many eyewitnesses. They worked with Watertown Sgt. Jeff Pugliese (portrayed by J.K. Simmons), Police Commissioner Ed Davis (played by John Goodman), and Dun Meng, the man that bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev carjacked and held hostage. They came to the set and worked with the actors who portray them. Commissioner Davis commented on the accuracy of John Goodman's portrayal. "Right down to the scarf I was wearing and the jacket I had on. He practiced my accent and sounded just like me" (Bustle.com). They shot scenes at real-life locations, including the former home of Sean Collier, the MIT patrol officer who was killed by the terrorists. The home's pink interior walls were left untouched for the film.
Some of the survivors who were initially against the film changed their minds after seeing it. This included Marc Fucarile (not represented in the movie), who lost his leg in the bombing. "Surprisingly it was really good," he said in an interview on Kirk & Callahan.
The videos below offer a firsthand look at the tragic events that unfolded at the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, including footage of the two explosions and their aftermath. Further deepen your knowledge of the Patriots Day true story by watching survivor interviews.